ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The reduction in income tax rates for the corporate sector has resulted into maximum revenue realization during the first six months (July-Dec) of the current fiscal year compared with last year.

Official figures available with Dawn showed that the over-all growth in income tax collections from public companies during the year 2004-05 was Rs79.8 billion as against Rs70.6 billion over the previous year, an increase of 13 per cent.

Similarly, the revenue realization from the private companies during the year 2004-05 stood at Rs50 billion as against Rs46.6 billion over the previous year, an increase of 10.6 per cent.

The growth in income tax collections from the public companies was recorded following scaling down of the tax rates to 35pc during the year under review. Moreover, the rate for private companies was reduced to 39 per cent during the year 2005.

According to the half-year statistics, the collection of income tax from public companies was Rs24.2bn during the fist six months (July-Dec) of the current fiscal year as against Rs21bn over the same period of last year, showing an increase of 15.4pc.

The collection of income tax from private companies registered a growth of 11.3pc to Rs26.4bn during the first half-year as against Rs23.7bn during the same period of the last year.

The gross collection of income tax from banking companies was Rs5.7 billion during the period under review as against Rs5.2 billion over the same period of last year, showing an increase of 10.8 per cent.